Globe and Mail | 06May2010 | Orest Slepokura
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/may-6-letters-to-the-editor/article1558166/
Refuge in red herrings
A German court has sentenced German-Canadian arms lobbyist Karlheinz
Schreiber to prison for tax evasion (Karlheinz Schreiber Gets Eight
Years In Prison – online, May 5, 2010). The presiding judge, who found Mr.
Schreiber had not been credible, observed: “It was noticeable that the
accused sought refuge in red herrings and was consistently silent on
the really decisive questions.”
Seeking “refuge in red herrings,” eh? How very like Karlheinz Schreiber
-- and some of the big-name politicians he lobbied.
Orest Slepokura, Strathmore, Alta.
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To Globe and Mail | 20Apr2010 | Orest Slepokura
The Editor:
Re: "Hug the Saudis? Forget it," Letters - Globe and Mail (20 April 2010).
"What was he thinking?" was the most charitable assessment I heard
concerning Brian Mulroney's many dealings with controversial German
arms-dealer Karlheinz Schreiber -- which Mr. Mulroney himself deplored
as an error in judgment on his part. Certainly, stories of Mr. Mulroney
pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash during his meetings
with Mr. Schreiber have done much to diminish our former prime
minister's standing as an elder statesman on the world stage.
Now that he is advocating Canada improve its social and business ties
with Saudi Arabia, where systemic misogyny and other expressions of
Islamist extremism are blithely the norm, I'm moved to wonder, "Is
Brian Mulroney even thinking at all?"
Sincerely,
Orest Slepokura, Strathmore, Alta
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To Globe and Mail | 16Apr2010 | Orest Slepokura
The Editor:
In forceful speeches he delivered seven years ago, Brian Mulroney decried anti-Semitism in its most recent incarnation.
Now here is our former prime minister touting improved business and
social ties between Canada and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“Saudis,
our friends and business partners,” 16 April 2010, Globe and Mail), the
very realm where endemic Judeophobia is present in schools and in
mosques, where it’s even “celebrated” in verse. What an astonishing
display of cognitive dissonance!
I use “cognitive dissonance” in lieu of a less clinical phrase.
Sincerely,
Orest Slepokura, Strathmore, Alta